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London-Delhi flight returns to gate after a mix-up: Here's what happened, Air India explains
The aircraft returned to offload the passenger’s baggage, “as per standard security protocols”, which resulted in a delay, says Air India spokesperson
A flight operating from London to New Delhi returned to the boarding gate, after having started the pushback to proceed for takeoff, when it was discovered that one of passengers was not on the plane.
In a statement about flight AI162, operating from London's Heathrow airport to Delhi on September 21, an Air India spokesperson explained that the passenger, who was not identified, had the boarding pass scanned and was “marked as boarded, but failed to board the aircraft".
“The passenger had mistakenly proceeded to the arrivals area instead of the departure gate after having their boarding pass scanned at the gate,” said the Air India spokesperson.
The aircraft returned to offload the passenger’s baggage, “as per standard security protocols”, which resulted in a delay.
“The passenger was detained by the airport security officials for questioning. Our flight crew followed the necessary procedures, and the decision to return was made to ensure compliance with security regulations. We regret the delay in the flight’s departure caused by this incident,” the airlines' spokesperson further said.
While Air India did not give details of how long the delay was, tracking portal FlightTracker24 showed that the flight was late by around two hours.
This comes less than two weeks after a Singapore-bound Air India flight from Delhi was delayed overnight due to a cabin cooling issue prior to departure.
"Flight AI2380 operating from Delhi to Singapore on September 10 was delayed due to a cabin cooling issue on ground prior to departure. Passengers were regularly kept informed of the delay and our ground colleagues in Delhi extended all support to passengers at the airport, including providing refreshments and meals. The flight departed at 0536 hrs IST after a change of aircraft," an Air India spokesperson had said about that.
